Sandylands

I've found that a quiet walk at Sandylands, with no companions other than Freya, is one of my favourites. I'm very hermity indeed these days. I don't think the lockdowns have done this to me – I was already quite a reclusive and solitary individual, and the lockdowns have just allowed me to realise that this is fine as a lifestyle choice. It might not be for you, but it suits me very well. I am looking forward to a pint or two in a pub, but I absolutely know that the novelty will wear off very quickly and I'll be quite happy to have another year of not going anywhere.

But anyway, Sandylands is a lovely area to stroll in the sunshine. And I've noticed that it's gorgeous in all weathers and at all times of day, although early evening is quite special. I wonder if I have it in me to get up at dawn and see what it looks like then. Probably not. This is what it looks like a couple of hours before sunset.

But oh! My apologies to those who don't live up here – Sandylands is a small area that lies between Morecambe and Heysham, such that it's not totally obvious where Morecambe ends and Heysham begins. It has a beautifully maintained stretch of promenade, with lots of benches and several small beaches. It's always quite busy, but the prom itself is wide enough that it's not a problem in pandemic times.

I park at the Battery (hotel and pub), and there's a path that leads straight down onto the first tiny beach. There are usually lots of people and dogs here, but on this day there were none, so I let Freya off just to see if she could be trusted. I walked here a few days later and it was very busy, so I didn't let her off, despite a well-meaning dog owner screeching at me that I should, because Freya has a tendency to follow people who are leaving, thus turning deaf to my entreaties to come back to me for a biscuit. It's nice to chat to other dog owners, but I'm not all that keen when they tell me what I should do with my own dog when I haven't asked. But anyway, none of that today. Just freedom!

Joyous freedom! I love that moment when I take off her lead. She sits nicely while I unfasten it, then she's off like a shot. She runs out, does a circle all the way round me, probably three or four times, and then she follows her nose and starts to explore. It's great, and especially so on the beach now that she's not scared of water. One of my favourite things is watching her leap into the waves with wild abandon. I also love when she runs back, covered in sandy mud, and jumps up at me to tell me what she's just seen. Jeans wash, and it's only sand.

And sometimes she'll come back to me and sit down for a breather, like this. Awwwwwwww! And how's about those German shepherd ears, eh? I did think they were going to stay floppy, which would've been fine and suited her, but it looks like they're going to be sticky up after all. Still a slight flop at the top, but I like that. Who cares if she's not kennel club perfect – not I.

After looking like butter wouldn't melt, she decided she'd had enough of behaving nicely and hared off over the rocks to chase some birds. I had to chase after her because she could quite well have followed her nose off the beach and up onto the road. Cursing the bloody dog for causing me to risk broken ankles by scrambling over the rocks, I half wondered whether there was any kind of law against letting your dog chase sea birds, before snapping a picture as evidence that she did it. 

There they are, oystercatchers again, I think, flocking to escape – but not actually in a panicked way. They flew off quite lazily actually, as if they're used to dogs. In fact, I think they were laughing at her because there was something quite mocking in their tone. Don't blame them. Stupid dogs, thinking they can fly.

And stupid dogs, drinking seawater. I mean, come on, it doesn't taste nice! (Yes, I know, it's not good for them, but we don't stay long enough for her to drink a harmful amount, it's fine.)

See those houses up at the top? That's where I'd like to live. Not a chance though – I looked them up. They hardly ever come up for sale, and they're also well out of my price range when they do!

Enough of that, I says to Freya, when I'd managed to catch her by offering ham (I didn't just find it, I brought it with me, all chopped up in a little bag). We went back up on to the prom and she went into a little huff for a couple of minutes, which she always does when I put her lead back on. 'Ugh, Mum, it's not fair!'

Let's just admire the cleanness of the prom. Not a scrap of litter. Impressive. Let us also admire the blue sky. Contrary to popular opinion, we do see quite a lot of this up in the North West. Also the sun. I've seen the sun lots of times in these parts.

We walked as far as I thought seemed sensible for our constitutional, and on the way back we went to the end of this jetty. It's because that's what you do if you see a bit of something that looks like it should be walked on. Humans can't help doing that, sometimes. If there's a jetty, and it enters our head to walk on it, we will walk right to the end and back. We will not walk to the middle of it because that would leave us with a sense of unfinished business, like the one I get if I know I've missed reading a word on a page and have to go back to check what it was.

It's not a long jetty, but it's pretty cool nonetheless. When you get to the end, it has the effect, if you care to let it, of encouraging your mind to wander off out into the world, across the seas and oceans, to lands you've never seen, and lands that you have. Do you ever do that? Go travelling in your head, all over the world? I do it quite a lot – I can recommend it because it's free, and there isn't the inconvenience of having to arrange flights and hotels and all of that. You don't have to change your spending money into local currencies or get travellers' cheques either. 

That's Grange-over-Sands on the other side of the bay. I think most people just call it Grange. It's very nice – I'll show you some time.

Ooph! The pre-sunset. Nice.

Until later, dear hearts. A very abrupt finish, I know, but sometimes I just run out of waffle to type.

WQ